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Pixal shut the door on everyone who was outside the medbay. Lloyd, Morro, Wu, Kai, and Cole. Zane was the patient, Nya and Jay were the only two other tech-savvy people in the Monastery, and E was there because he’s Zane’s other partner. E had set Zane down on a cot, and they didn’t have much room, what with the motorcycle there taking up space.
Nya took it upon herself to move the other cots to the other side of the room, and Jay booted up the giant computer. As he calibrated everything to monitor electrical currents instead of human vitals, Zane suddenly spoke up, “Uh, friends?” Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to him. He was currently a man of few words. “Why… is this necessary?” He seemed to be trying to force them out.
“Because you’ve spent who knows how long with corroded parts,” Pixal said kindly while she held his hand. “You must let us help you, Zane.” Zane looked into her green eyes, then turned to look at everyone else. They all had looks of concern, fidgeting and itching to get started and make their family all better. “But… I’ve been fine for years. I’ve… never had to… fffix myself.”
“Hey, Zane, just because you’re able to function, that doesn’t mean you’re going at 100%,” Jay cut in. “Jay’s right. Think about how much better you’ll feel once… this goes away,” Nya said, backing her Yin up. There was a moment of silence as she made some last-minute tweaks to prepare the system to sustain a nindroid, “Okay, whenever you’re ready.”
Zane was still uncharacteristically tense, lying rigid on the cot, but he forced himself to trust the friends he had known for years. It isn’t easy, especially considering he hasn’t known they existed for several times that amount, but he managed. Perhaps that’s why he forced himself to relax his joints, at least to make sure that they don’t grind up against each other.
Pixal stroked his head, “Okay, Zane, we are going to need you to slip into recharge mode. Can you do that for me?” Hesitantly, he nodded. He closed his eyes and attempted to let consciousness fade out. After everything that had happened, he should have known not to expect it to be that easy.
“LOOK OUT!” Green called-
Whitepinkpurpleorange filled his vision-
His body shrank-
Space and time crumbled around him-
His closest thing to a stomach twisted-
He was sucked through a wormhole-
Bluewhitegrey-
He was falling-
Impact-
Burning blue-
Shining grey-
Glitching screen-
Cable-
mEMoRieS LoST-
And finally-
N̵͈̙̤͌͐̉̾̈́͘O̷̻̲͎͓͚̙͎̞̹͚͊͗̑͊Ţ̷͎͈͍̘̣̩̮̀̔̐̆́͂̂̉̓̌H̶̨̖̱̖̍̋̀̏̕I̸͚̦͑͌͂̽͠Ň̷̺̲̝̭͓͌̑̀̚G̸͍͖̳̩̥̫̬̟̖̍́̍̄
He jolted awake with an approximation of a gasp, practically jumping a foot in the air and nearly headbutting the person bent over him. He struggled violently, his eyes unseeing, “HOLD HIM DOWN!” “NO!” He yelled, but whoever trapped him didn’t matter when his limbs were pinned to the surface below, eliciting more panic in his movements.
In response to its master’s distress, ice sprouted up from the ground, but it didn’t have a mind of its own. It followed his wordless, desperate command, pushing his assailants away, freeing him. He leaped off the cot to his feet, eyes darting around, mind foggy as he settled into a fighting stance. A razor-sharp sword made of ice formed in his hand, harder than rock and denser than his metal.
The Ice Emperor held it in front of him threateningly, his glare as deadly as his blade. His vents took in and expelled air, and he tried to think- “Zane! Zane, it’s us! Calm down!” A cyan woman’s voice pleaded. “Who are you!?” His voice was wrong. He assessed the obstacles in front of him: one was cyan, another was blue, another was a shining grey, and still another was black and crimson.
“Zane! Please!” Shining grey called, her hands raised in the universal gesture of placation. “This isn’t the Ice Palace! You’re safe!” The words inspired confusion, and he began to glance around. “Yes, Zane, that’s good. Very good. Come on, tell me, what are five things you can see?” This is ridiculous. The Ice Emperor should simply freeze this metal woman for her insolence. He should run her through to shut her up.
He should.
So, why wasn’t he doing it?
“Zane, humour me, please. What are five things you can see?” There was a moment of silence before he replied, “You, the screen, the blue one, the ground, and that… contraption.” The last phrase was referring to a metal monstrosity, it was long and thin with two wheels and a seat. “Good, Zane, you’re doing so well.” The Ice Emperor didn’t take too well to being condescended.
“What are four things you can feel?” There wasn’t a lot, but he lowered his sword. He didn’t put it away, but it was down. “The ice. The cold. The cot. Myself. Why am I here?” The metal woman shook her head, approaching slowly, “Don’t worry. Now, what are three things you can hear?” He waited and listened, “The computer. Your voice. My… breathing.”
Zane dropped the sword, but just before it could shatter, it dissolved into mist, along with all of the other ice crystals. “...Pixal?” Pixal gave a lovely smile mixed with a sob and wrapped him in a big hug. He instinctively returned it, and they were soon joined by Jay, Nya, and E. For however long, they stood there as he shook.
Then Zane broke away from the hug and stepped back. “...Is this really necessary? I-I do not wish to experience that again,” he stuttered uncharacteristically. “Zane," Nya got his attention. “I know this is the right time, but you were under for less than a minute. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought you were having a seizure.”
“But he needs to have this surgery! He won’t be at his full capability if we don’t do this!” Pixal protested, “Even if he doesn’t, he still needs to recharge; he’s been without it for long enough.” “But if we do, who’s saying that this won’t happen again?” Nya argued. Surprisingly, Jay cut in, “I think I have a solution.” Both of them stared at him like they just noticed his presence.
He shrank under their gazes, but he steeled himself and cleared his throat. “Why don’t we essentially do to Zane what was done to Pixal? In other words, we connect him to the mainframe of the Monastery, and he’ll be able to see and control everything that we do. He won’t be caught off guard, he can leave it anytime, and since he’ll be connected to the Bounty itself, he’ll recharge even faster!”
There was a dumbfounded moment of silence, but it was broken when Nya, Pixal, and E slowly started to grin, then they turned to Zane. He had the final vote. He glanced around hesitantly, but he gave a slow nod, “...If it would help,” was all he said. They tried not to celebrate too early, but they couldn’t help a little fist bump.
Zane was guided back onto the cot, somehow more tense than before. E held his hand, squeezing reassuringly. His red eyes crinkled at the corners, his version of a smile, “Relax, Zane. We’re here with you.” He said. To anyone other than him and Pixal, it would have sounded like gibberish and nonsense. Zane didn’t even need to translate it to know what he meant.
He glanced at him and gave a wordless nod. “Okay, Zane, remember. You can use the speaker to talk to us, and you can come back to your body at any time,” Jay said after he had modified the monitors. Nya was behind Zane with a giant cable in her hand, “Going dark in five, four, three, two, one.”
He connected the end of the cable to the top of Zane’s head, and his vision faded out, but the panic didn’t get the chance to set in. Suddenly, he was above and around everyone, electrical impulses fired at unprecedented rates and he had multiple eyes in multiple rooms. For all intents and purposes, he was the Monastery, and the entire Monastery was at his disposal.
Zane subconsciously turned the camera to look down at the medbay, and saw himself sleeping. Then he say Jay at the monitors and talking to the open air, “Hey, Zane, buddy, you there?” It took a second for Zane to be able to answer, but he did. “Yes, this feels… strange.” “It’s okay, Zane, I felt that way the first time as well. Now, you can relax. Trust us to do the work,” Pixal smiled.
He didn’t know why, but he felt he could.